Improvement in tanks foe febmenting ale, beer



"n K. WARREN, or ROCHESTER, YNEW YORK,

Letters Patent No. 82,905, dated ,October 6,. A1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN TANKS IOR EERMENTING ALE, BEER,

dln Signale referrer 'tuin ligne .ti'ttns tant mn limiting gaat nf tige stmt.

TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, E. K. WARIREN, ofthe city of Rochestor, county of Monroe, and State of New York, have invented. a certain new and useful Improvement in Tanks or Pontoons for Fermenting Ale, Beer, and other Liquors; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specication, in which- Figure I is a plan, and

Figure Q a central vertical section.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

In the old method of fermentation, the yeastis allowed to work out of the bung-hole, which not only involves a very imperfect action, but occasions much loss of the liquid.

To remedy this diculty, an apparatus hasV been patented (April 23, 1867, No. 68,99%),in which the -yeast Works up from the cask (or a series of them) through a long tube, andinto a trough above, where the liquid is condensed-by contactA with an underlying water-chamber, and is thence conveyed back into the cask again,

thereby performing a circuit. The water from the water-chamberv is also made to pass through the body'of the cask'to keep it'cool; v l

Although this plan is avast improvement upon4 the old method, yet it is attended with serious diiiculties and objections The acutevform of the top of the cask causes the yeast to adhere and remain without passing o'freely, and the small escape-tube, of considerablellength, retards the rising and escape of the same,v andthe consequenceis, that a portion of the yeast remains in the liquor and impairs its value. In addition to this, butI a, small circuit ofthe water is produced through the body of the/Cask, and this only after it has spent the most of its coldness upon the material in the yeast-trough above, whereas the reverse should he the case,`passing firstl through the cask.

To remedy these diiiiculties, my inventionl'consists in the employment, in a single tank or pontoon holding the body of the liquid, ofa conical or inclined top, which concentrates the yeastA upward in a mass, and discharges it into a chamber above, whence the condensed liquid is carried back into the pontoon againby suit! able pipes.

The invention further consists 1in combining with the above a double coil of water-pipe, so arranged that the -water first enters the body ofI the pontoon to cool the mass under fermentatiomand thenpasses over the upper surface of the conical top,I to condense the liquidcarried up Awith the yeast.

In the drawings, A indicates the pontoon or tank, which is preferably made-of'woo'dcn staves, banded with iron, and of sufficient size to hold the largest'brewing in mass.

In the upper portion-'of ethe pon'tooniis situ-ated'a conical or inclined top, I3, leaving above itan open chi1mber, C, of suilici'ent capacity to receive the yeast-that works up by the fermentation.

At the apexhof the cone is a cover, a, of sui'icient size to allow a person to enter to clean the tank when it is removed. From the centre of this cover rises a tubeb, vand from other points of the conical top risc. similar tubes, b b', for the purpose of allowing4 free action of the yeast in working upward. l

From the base or deepest portion of-chamber C 1;eturntubes,c c, lead b'a'ck into thc pontoon, thereby conveying back the condensed liquid'that separates from the yeast.

'lhe special feature of novelty I lclaim in this part' of the invention is the conicalor inclined top, B, which serves to concentrate the yeast to the centre, whereit escapes freely."

It will be noticed that the greatest facility'is give-n for the working olf of the y cast, sincc there are no square .or acute angular sides to 'obstruct it, but, instead,`a gradual and obtuse' incline, as shown by' the red arrows;

therefore the yeast will not cling or adhere to the sides, but will pass up` easily and rcadilyvto the cxtreme to,p,'.v

at which point the passage through-tubes b b is very short, and is accomplished without difficulty.

This arrangement is, manifestly,.a great improvement upon that at first described, where the yeast' is obstructed by the sides ofthe cask, and vwhere it has to passupward through an extended tube.

In addition to the above, the conical form of the top, B, is such as to afford the greatest facility to the condensation in the chamber C, by means of the Water-pipe spread over the floor thereof, as will/presently be described.

The induction water-pipe, Utl, passes inward and downward to the bottom of the pontoon, i'vhere it gradually circles upward, forming a coil, E, in the body ofthe pontoon, and thence the length, dl, passes still upward through the conical top, B, and then circles over the floor of same, forming a second coil, E', and nally escapes through- :he sido of the pontoon, forming the eduction'pipe, d2.

By this specialarrangement of the pipe I am enabled tirst'to expend the primary coldness of the water in cooling the'great mass of the liquid in the pontoon, and then use the balaneein condensing` the liquid thrown up by the yeast in chamber C. In the case iirst cited, the reverse is the result, the primary coldness of the water 'being expendedupon. the yeast, and then passing into the eask to cool the body of liquid.

In my method, I am enabled to obtain the properequilibrium, thereby producing a more even and uniform fermentation, and consequently a better product of ale or heer.V i

This method of ferincnting ale or beer, in a close tank'or pontoon of suicient capacity to hold a brewing in hulk, is far .superior to that where a series Vofrcasks or puncheons is employed, since the liquid is then all fermented alike. i

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The employment of the conical or inclined top C, in combination with pontoon A, for concentrating the yeast and facilitating its escape, as herein described.

2. The combination'and arrangement, with the pontoon A and conical top B, ot' the' two coils, E E', of water-pipe, the water passing first into E, and then upward into E', the whole as described and for the purpose specified.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name, in the presence of two subscribing witnesscs.

E. K. WARREN.

Witnesses: I

R. F. Oscoop, W. A. Lonen. 

